•Disentangling domain features for cross-modality cardiac image segmentation.•Implementing unsupervised domain adaptation on both feature and image levels.•Zero-loss to enhance the characteristics of ...the domain-invariant features(DSFs).•Embeding a self-attention module into the UDA framework.
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Unsupervised domain adaptation (UDA) generally learns a mapping to align the distribution of the source domain and target domain. The learned mapping can boost the performance of the model on the target data, of which the labels are unavailable for model training. Previous UDA methods mainly focus on domain-invariant features (DIFs) without considering the domain-specific features (DSFs), which could be used as complementary information to constrain the model. In this work, we propose a new UDA framework for cross-modality image segmentation. The framework first disentangles each domain into the DIFs and DSFs. To enhance the representation of DIFs, self-attention modules are used in the encoder which allows attention-driven, long-range dependency modeling for image generation tasks. Furthermore, a zero loss is minimized to enforce the information of target (source) DSFs, contained in the source (target) images, to be as close to zero as possible. These features are then iteratively decoded and encoded twice to maintain the consistency of the anatomical structure. To improve the quality of the generated images and segmentation results, several discriminators are introduced for adversarial learning. Finally, with the source data and their DIFs, we train a segmentation network, which can be applicable to target images. We validated the proposed framework for cross-modality cardiac segmentation using two public datasets, and the results showed our method delivered promising performance and compared favorably to state-of-the-art approaches in terms of segmentation accuracies. The source code of this work will be released via https://zmiclab.github.io/projects.html, once this manuscript is accepted for publication.
The road centerline extraction is the key step of the road network extraction and modeling. The hand-craft feature engineering in the traditional road extraction methods is unstable, which makes the ...extracted road centerline deviated from the road center in complex cases and even results in overall extracting errors. Recently, the road centerline extraction methods based on semantic segmentation employing deep neural network greatly outperformed the traditional methods. Nevertheless, the pixel-wise labels for training deep learning models are expensive and the postprocess of road segmentation is error-prone. Inspired by the work of human pose estimation, we propose DeepWindow, a novel method to automatically extract the road network from remote sensing images. DeepWindow uses a sliding window guided by a CNN-based decision function to track the road network directly from the images without the prior of road segmentation. First of all, we design and train a CNN model to estimate the road center points inside a patch. Then, the road seeds are automatically searched patch by patch employing the CNN model. Finally, starting from seeds, our method first estimates the road direction using a Fourier spectrum analysis algorithm and then iteratively tracks the road center-line along the road direction guided by the CNN model. In our method, the CNN model is trained by point annotations, which greatly reduces the training costs comparing to those in semantic model training. Our method achieves comparable performance with the state-of-the-art road extraction methods, and extensive experiments indicate that our method is robust to the point deviation.
Both hydrogen sulfide (H
S) and hydrogen peroxide (H
O
) are separately regarded as a highly reactive molecule involved in root morphogenesis. In this report, corresponding causal link governing ...lateral root formation was investigated.
By using pharmacological, anatomic, and molecular approaches, evidence presented here revealed the molecular mechanism underlying tomato lateral root development triggered by H
S.
A H
S donor sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) triggered the accumulation of H
O
, the up-regulation of RBOH1 transcript, and thereafter tomato lateral root formation. Above responses were sensitive to the H
O
scavenger (dimethylthiourea; DMTU) and the inhibitor of NADPH oxidase (diphenylene idonium; DPI), showing that the accumulations of H
O
and increased RBOH1 transcript were respectively prevented. Lateral root primordial and lateral root formation were also impaired. Further molecular evidence revealed that H
S-modulated gene expression of cell cycle regulatory genes, including up-regulation of SlCYCA2;1, SlCYCA3;1, and SlCDKA1, and the down-regulation of SlKRP2, were prevented by the co-treatment with DMTU or DPI. Above mentioned inducing phenotypes were consistent with the changes of lateral root formation-related microRNA transcripts: up-regulation of miR390a and miR160, and with the opposite tendencies of their target genes (encoding auxin response factors). Contrasting tendencies were observed when DMTU or DPI was added together. The occurrence of H
S-mediated S-sulfhydration during above responses was preliminarily discovered.
Overall, these results suggested an important role of RBOH1-mediated H
O
in H
S-elicited tomato lateral root development, and corresponding H
S-target proteins regulated at transcriptional and post-translational levels.
Separation of actinides from lanthanides is of great importance for the safe management of nuclear waste and sustainable development of nuclear energy, but it represents a huge challenge due to the ...chemical complexity of these f-elements. Herein, we report an efficient separation strategy based on ion sieving in graphene oxide membrane. In the presence of a strong oxidizing reagent, the actinides (U, Np, Pu, Am) in a nitric acid solution exist in the high valent and linear dioxo form of actinyl ions while the lanthanides (Ce, Nd, Eu, Gd, etc.) remain as trivalent/tetravalent spheric ions. A task-specific graphene oxide membrane with an interlayer nanochannel spacing between the sizes of hydrated actinyl ions and lanthanides ions is tailored and used as an ionic cut-off filter, which blocks the larger and linear actinyl ions but allows the smaller and spheric lanthanides ions to penetrate through, affording lanthanides/actinides separation factors up to ~400. This work realizes the group separation of actinides from lanthanides under highly acidic conditions by a simple ion sieving strategy and highlights the great potential of utilizing graphene oxide membrane for nuclear waste treatment.
Road extraction from high-resolution remote sensing images is a challenging but hot research topic in the past decades. A large number of methods are invented to deal with this problem. This article ...provides a comprehensive review of these existing approaches. We classified the methods into heuristic and data-driven. The heuristic methods are the mainstream in the early years, and the data-driven methods based on deep learning have been quickly developed recently. With regard to the heuristic methods, the road feature model is first introduced, then, the classic extraction methods are reviewed in two subcategories: semiautomatic and automatic. The principles, inspirations, advantages, and disadvantages of these methods are described. In terms of the data-driven methods, the road extraction methods based on deep neural network, particularly those based on patched convolutional neural network, fully convolutional network, and generative adversarial network are reviewed. We perform subjective comparisons between the methods inner each type. Furthermore, the quantity performances achieved on the same dataset are compared between the heuristic and data-driven methods to show the strengthening of the data-driven methods. Finally, the conclusion and prospects are summarized.
Adult-onset neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (ANCL) is a rare neurodegenerative disease characterized by epilepsy, cognitive degeneration, and motor disorders caused by mutations in the
DNAJC5
gene. In ...addition to being associated with ANCL disease, the cysteine string proteins α (CSPα) encoded by the
DNAJC5
gene have been implicated in several neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), and Huntington's disease. However, the pathogenic mechanism responsible for these neurodegenerative diseases has not yet been elucidated. Therefore, this study examines the functional properties of the CSPα protein and the related mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases.
Similar to auxin, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), mainly produced by l-cysteine desulfhydrase (DES; EC 4.4.1.1) in plants, could induce lateral root formation. The objective of this study was to test whether ...H2S is also involved in auxin-induced lateral root development in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) seedlings. We observed that auxin depletion-induced down-regulation of transcripts of SlDES1, decreased DES activity and endogenous H2S contents, and the inhibition of lateral root formation were rescued by sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS, an H2S donor). However, No additive effects were observed when naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) was co-treated with NaHS (lower than 10 mM) in the induction of lateral root formation. Subsequent work revealed that a treatment with NAA or NaHS could simultaneously induce transcripts of SlDES1, DES activity and endogenous H2S contents, and thereafter the stimulation of lateral root formation. It was further confirmed that H2S or HS−, not the other sulfur-containing components derived from NaHS, was attributed to the stimulative action. The inhibition of lateral root formation and decreased of H2S metabolism caused by an H2S scavenger hypotaurine (HT) were reversed by NaHS, but not NAA. Molecular evidence revealed that both NaHS- or NAA-induced modulation of some cell cycle regulatory genes, including the up-regulation of SlCDKA;1, SlCYCA2;1, together with simultaneous down-regulation of SlKRP2, were differentially reversed by HT pretreatment. To summarize, above results clearly suggested that H2S might, at least partially, act as a downstream component of auxin signaling to trigger lateral root formation.
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•Both NAA and NaHS induced H2S production in a DES-dependent fashion.•H2S might be a downstream component of auxin to trigger lateral root formation.•Cell cycle regulatory genes are the target genes of H2S signaling.
The absence of pharmaceutical interventions made it particularly difficult to mitigate the first outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The current study investigated how economic freedom ...and equality influenced the pandemic control process.
In Study 1, we assessed the effect of economic freedom and equality on COVID-19 pandemic control from nations worldwide. We collected the cumulative number of confirmed cases over time to perform logistic curve fitting and obtain the speed at which the first wave of the pandemic was controlled, and partial correlation analysis and representational similarity analysis (RSA) were performed to assess the similarity between economic freedom and the speed of pandemic control. In Study 2, an evolutionary game model in which economic freedom affects the speed of pandemic control through optimization of the allocation of available resources was developed. In Study 3, we used experimental manipulation to elucidate the psychological mechanism relating economic freedom and resource allocation.
The economic freedom of nation could be used to positively predict the speed of pandemic control and the related similarity pattern. Equality was found to moderate the correlation and representational similarity between economic freedom and the speed of pandemic control. The evolutionary game model revealed a mechanism whereby economic freedom influences the speed of pandemic control through high resource availability. Furthermore, cooperation was found to be a possible psychological mechanism explaining how economic freedom increases resource availability.
Economic freedom has a positive effect on the control of the COVID-19 pandemic only among highly egalitarian nations. New interventions are needed to help countries heighten economic freedom and equality as they continue to battle COVID-19 and other collective threats.
Automatic segmentation and centerline extraction of blood vessels from retinal fundus images is an essential step to measure the state of retinal blood vessels and achieve the goal of auxiliary ...diagnosis. Combining the information of blood vessel segments and centerline can help improve the continuity of results and performance. However, previous studies have usually treated these two tasks as separate research topics. Therefore, we propose a novel multitask learning network (MSC-Net) for retinal vessel segmentation and centerline extraction. The network uses a multibranch design to combine information between two tasks. Channel and atrous spatial fusion block (CAS-FB) is designed to fuse and correct the features of different branches and different scales. The clDice loss function is also used to constrain the topological continuity of blood vessel segments and centerline. Experimental results on different fundus blood vessel datasets (DRIVE, STARE, and CHASE) show that our method can obtain better segmentation and centerline extraction results at different scales and has better topological continuity than state-of-the-art methods.
Objectives
This meta-analysis evaluated the short-term safety and efficacy of indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence in gastric reconstruction to determine a suitable anastomotic position during ...esophagectomy.
Methods
The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes 2020 (PRISMA) were followed for this analysis.
Results
A total of 9 publications including 1,162 patients were included. The operation time and intraoperative blood loss were comparable in the ICG and control groups. There was also no significant difference in overall postoperative mortality, reoperation, arrhythmia, vocal cord paralysis, pneumonia, and surgical wound infection. The ICG group had a 2.66-day reduction in postoperative stay. The overall anastomotic leak (AL) was 17.6% (n = 131) in the control group and 4.5% (n = 19) in the ICG group with a relative risk (RR) of 0.29 (95% CI 0.18–0.47). A subgroup analysis showed that the application of ICG in cervical anastomosis significantly reduced the incidence of AL (RR of 0.31, 95% CI 0.18–0.52), but for intrathoracic anastomosis, the RR 0.35 was not significant (95% CI 0.09–1.43). Compared to an RR of 0.35 in publications with a sample size of <50, a sample size of >50 had a lower RR of 0.24 (95% CI 0.12–0.48). Regarding intervention time of ICG, the application of ICG both before and after gastric construction had a better RR of 0.25 (95% CI 0.07–0.89).
Conclusions
The application of ICG fluorescence could effectively reduce the incidence of AL and shorten the postoperative hospital stay for patients undergoing cervical anastomosis but was not effective for patients undergoing intrathoracic anastomosis. The application of ICG fluorescence before and after gastric management can better prevent AL.
Systematic Review Registration
PROSPERO, CRD:42021244819.
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